As you know by now, every penny you donate is used as carefully as possible to raise awareness and support for the soon-to-be-a-reality project. We live on a bare-bones budget and need your help today to continue to provide important outreach to our communities. As the fight for getting financial backing for the project winds down, the importance of educating the communities about the timeline, the path, and the hurdles still looming continues.

Please take a moment to add your name to our generous sponsors - any amount is appreciated - your donations have a real impact on our goal of making the community aware of where the Purple Line will be, the timeline for getting it built, the process necessary to gain funding and approval, and most importantly, to advocate and educate our elected officials about the importance of getting this project underway as soon as possible.

In the past year alone, here's what Purple Line NOW has been working on:

1) Attending many local and state meetings to testify, participate in, and advocate for the Purple Line. Our board and team of dedicated volunteers are out in force at Purple Line-oriented meetings and events, and regularly connect with our congressional delegation to keep the Purple Line at the forefront of their work.

2) We have advocated for and met with county officials to push for a dynamic Purple Line display at the new Silver Spring Library to help the community understand where the path of the Line will pass. Just a few weeks ago, this beautiful display went up and we are thrilled to have been a part of the hard work of pushing to make it happen.

3) Purple Line NOW kicked off the first forum in the Envisioning the Purple Line Series called Purple Line and a New College Park on February 22 at the University of Maryland. The forum brought together leaders from the university, housing industry, City of College Park, and student body to talk about the impact the Purple Line will have on the university and the greater College Park area.

4) We presented the second forum in the Envisioning the Purple Line series on April 21 at Montgomery College to a sold-out crowd. A Purple Line Update featured Maryland Secretary of Transportation, Pete Rahn and a knowledgeable and enthusiastic panel moderated by WAMU's Transportation Reporter Martin Di Caro and included Qingbin Cui, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Maryland College Park, Charles Lattuca, Executive Director for Transit Development and Delivery at the Maryland Transit Administration, and Montgomery County Councilmember George Leventhal.

5) Purple Line NOW manages a brand new website that brings all of the Purple Line breaking news to you in an easy to read format, packed full of information to keep everyone up-to-date on the progress of the project. And, we manage a Facebook page and Twitterpresence as well, to spread the word!

6) We are currently planning the next two events in the Envisioning the Purple Line Series, one featuring best practices from other communities who have utilized the P3 Partnership model and one in the Takoma/Langley Crossroads area to bring the community up to date on the Purple Line. Dates and panels will be announced soon (so keep your eyes peeled for your invitation - the last event was sold out!)

7) As always, we monitor important meetings that may have an impact of the timeline of the project, we are working with county officials to have signage posted along the Purple Line route so our communities know where the train will run, and we continue to work with local media to provide as much outreach as possible to the community at large.

We are only able to do all these things because of your support and we ask you to take a moment to help us continue our work. Even small donations, when all our members give, add up to a lot!

Thank you - for all you do for Purple Line NOW, for the project, and for our communities!

We hope you were able to join us two weeks ago for the second Envisioning the Purple Line Forum where we received an outstanding update of the current status of the project and the path forward to ground breaking!Maryland's Secretary of Transportation Pete Rahn began the evening with a thorough update announcing that the Purple Line Transit Partners (the team awarded the contract to build the Purple Line) has already started pre-construction work in the lead-up to the actual groundbreaking later this fall. Secretary Rahn also explained the benefits of a Public-Private Partnership (P3) and how it will help the project stay on budget and be built within the designated time frame.A knowledgeable and enthusiastic panel moderated by WAMU's Transportation Reporter Martin Di Caro delved into details of the steps remaining before the project moves forward. Dr. Qingbin Cui, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Maryland College Park, Charles Lattuca, Executive Director for Transit Development and Delivery at the Maryland Transit Administration, and Montgomery County Councilmember George Leventhal offered thoughtful and detailed analysis and examples of why a P3 makes sense for our region. In case you missed it, the event was taped and can be viewed here: A Purple Line Update. A very hearty and grateful thanks to videographer John Wetmore for his contribution of skill and time!

Stay tuned to Purple Line NOW for the announcement of dates and locations for the next two events in the Envisioning the Purple Line Series.

We have had such a fantastic response to our second forum coming up this Thursday, April 21 that we have now closed registration as all of the seats have been reserved. If you are not sure if you have a reserved seat, contact us immediately so we can check for you. Unfortunately, due to fire marshal constraints and the size of the venue, we are unable to accommodate walk-ins, however, we are planning to tape the event, so check the Purple Line NOW website following the forum for a link to the event.

We do have a waiting list, so if this has been on your calendar as a tentative event, please contact our executive director Christine Scott (cscott@purplelinenow.com) so she can add your name to the waiting list. We will let you know if any space becomes available as the event nears.

Thank you for all of your support of Purple Line NOW through the years. We have two more forums planned over the next few months and will let you know as soon as registration is open for those events.

**Event is currently FULL - please contact Christine Scott at cscott@purplelinenow.com to put your name on waiting list**

A Purple Line Update - Where Are We Now? What Comes Next?An overview from the state and counties' perspectives of the next steps for getting the project built - including an explanation of the Public Private Partnership and what it means for the Purple Line

Residents, businesses, and stakeholders located near the new transit line’s route are hungry for information about the Purple Line project. Over the next twelve months, PLN will host an informative and innovative series of individual forums led by leading experts in their fields. The varied topics will provide useful information to those impacted by the line, and a path forward as the project gets ready to break ground in 2016!

The second forum, A Purple Line Update - Where Are We Now? What Comes Next? will be held on April 21 from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm at Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center, Second Floor - George & Ruth Tretter Dance Studio, 7995 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, 20910, however we currently we have a waiting list. If you haven't RSVP'd and would like to attend, please contact Christine Scott and we will add you to the waiting list should space become available.

We are thrilled to announce that Maryland's Secretary of Transportation Pete Rahn will be our keynote speaker! WAMU's Transportation Reporter Martin DiCaro will moderate the forum and the panel will include Charles Lattuca, Maryland Transit Administration, Executive Director for Transit Development and Delivery, Montgomery County Councilmember George Leventhal, and Qingbin Cui, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park.